"ADB Releases Ships for September! " Topic

On September 4, 2018, ADB released 70 new items to its shop on Shapeways, bringing the total items in its shop to 1,076. One of the highlights is the introduction of a new force: the Orion Pirates. They enter the scene with three of their most popular ships.

The Federation gains its Battle Frigate in both the "regular" and "Fed Classic" (smooth body) versions. The B-1 Strike Bomber is released in both Omni and 285 scales. They also get their F-16 ADB Releases Ships for September!

On September 4, 2018, ADB released 70 new items to its shop on Shapeways, bringing the total items in its shop to 1,076. One of the highlights is the introduction of a new force: the Orion Pirates. They enter the scene with three of their most popular ships.

The Federation gains its Battle Frigate in both the "regular" and "Fed Classic" (smooth body) versions. The B-1 Strike Bomber is released in both Omni and 285 scales. They also get their F-16 "Falcon Fighter" and E3 Heavy SWAC Shuttle in the new 285 Scale.

The Klingons get their C7B Heavy Battlecruiser and C7K Heavy Battlecruiser (refitted with panels to try to disguise its refits).

The Romulans get their SparrowHawk-H and SparrowHawk H+ Cargo Transport, SparrowHawk-T and SparrowHawk-T+ 1-Pod Transports, and SparrowHawk-T and SparrowHawk-T+ 2-Pod Transports. They also gain their KCR Heavy Battlecruiser in both smooth and regular versions with belly bird, Romulan insignia, and scallops on the wings.

The Tholians gain the Neo-Tholian Strike Carrier, Jumbo Web Tender, and Heavy Web Tender. They also gain their Tholian Spider-III Fighter in the new 285 Scale.

The Gorns get their mighty Godzilla Battleship, in the regular and refitted versions. They are also among the latest empires to gain empire-specific small and large freighters.

The Kzintis get their New Heavy Cruiser and Scout Drone War Destroyer. They also get their Large Attack Shuttle (LAS) Fighters in both Omni and 285 scales. They are among the latest empires to gain empire-specific small and large freighters.

The Orion Pirates gain their first ships in our shop. Joining their previously released Buccaneer Gunboats are three of their most popular ships: the Light Raider, Light Cruiser (Raider Cruiser), and Battle Raider.

The Lyrans and their wayward county of the Lyran Democratic Republic get the Desert Lion Light Dreadnought.

The Hydrans get their Demon Hunter Heavy War Destroyer.

The Seltorians get their New Heavy Scout Cruiser.

Many empires can use the three drones that are released this month: Multi-Warhead RALADs, Tachyon Missiles, and Heavy Multi-Warhead Drones.

Empires from the Omega Octant continue to have new additions. The Hivers are introduced with their Heavy Cruiser and Dreadnought.

We have released a new robotic monster in both the Omni and 285 scales: Starswarm with its many individual robots that can overwhelm a planet and then make even more robots!

Check all these out here: shapeways.com/shops/amarillo-design-bureau-inc
Don't forget to follow us: shapeways.com/designer/adbinc

That is a lot of ships.

Man, with Shapeways horrible search engine, and that many listings, it'll be a nightmare searching for those.

Actually, we've divided them up by empire, so it is pretty straightforward (the Romulans and Tholians have the highest count -- 128). If you want to see only recent releases, Shapeways does offer a "Newest" sort. In addition, if you know the scale you want and the empire, then a search of something like "3125 Scale Federation" will bring our stuff up first as they are the most relevant.

3125 Scale is the Starline 2500 line that tabletop gamers seemed to want. 3788 Scale is the old Starline 2400 line, but with all the detail that 3D printing allows. Omni Scale is for things that are too small to be used on the game table were they in scale (fighters, shuttles, and gunboats/PFs), or simply ginormous (the Franz Joseph starbase comes to mind -- it would be the diameter of a dinner plate in scale!). 285 Scale is being used for fighters due to many requests for them.

:) In my previous career, I was a librarian so I am used to thinking of how to divide up information so it is findable.

That is good to know, since their search feature is horrible, in many cases.

It is indeed difficult because they "or" words together instead of the typical "and" that every other search engine uses. That means every word you use broadens the search so you get more results rather than less. If you want something specific, your best shot is to pick the most unique word about it. Then you can burrow down through their categories to try to get to it.

For example, go to their home page. Click on the magnifying glass to get quickly to their search function on the new page.

Type Klingon. You get 538 items.

Click on Miniatures on the left. That drops it to 485 items.

Click on SciFi on the left. It is a minor drop to 480 items. BUT you get the choice of Starship which knocks it down to 386 items. Still a lot. But from there you can see "Most Popular," "Newest" or what Shapeways considers to have the most "Relevance." (I wish they had a sarcasm font -- we don't show up until page 4 on that search.) You can also sort by price.

Is it the best search engine? No. I suspect many potential customers get frustrated when they put in Klingon Starship and get over 9000 entries. Even sorting by popularity, they don't really get a Klingon ship until page 2.

But when we set up our shop, I tried to take that into account. Fingers crossed you will find it useful.

Yes, the ADB shop setup is pretty nice.

One request: would it be possible to add a 'sort by class' category to the shop? See all Cruisers, that kind of thing?

Do have a SFB question, though. What supplement lists the Federation bombers?

I think you can click on the tags at the bottom of an item and get some of that type of information. The problem with creating formal divisions is that classes proliferate. Light Cruiser, Heavy Cruiser, New Cruiser, tug cruisers, scout cruisers, and "What *this empire* calls a cruiser but is really a destroyer." Then there are the Gorn hybrids: something-something where they marry two different bubbles.

It looks like the bombers are all in Module J2.

I did check with the Powers That Be and they have nixed going back to add ship sizes/functions as categories. HOWEVER, I have done some experimenting with the search function. If you start your search with either 3125 Scale or 3788 Scale and add the ship type (cruiser, frigate, etc.), then burrow down the Shapeways categories to SciFi, you will get pretty good results. Same with 285 Scale or Omni Scale for bombers.

I hope that helps.

Thanks!

You are quite welcome!

Great to see the Orions getting some love!